Life Sciences Secures Major International Funding

A research team based within the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Lincoln has been awarded major research funding from the Human Frontier Science Programme Organisation (HFSPO). These highly competitive grants aim to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary science.

This project brings together research teams in Lincoln, as well as Stockholm University in Sweden and Tulane University in New Orleans, and was selected as one of just 32 funding winners in the HFSPO’s 2022 research grant competition which saw over 700 letters of intent submitted by teams across the globe.

The funding will allow the study of the evolution of sperm cell shape and motion. Sperm cells are the most morphologically diverse of all cells, and the teams will combine mathematical modelling, microscale biophysics and evolutionary ecology to better understand why this is when they all share the same function, fertilisation.

Speaking about the impact the funding will have, Prof. Stuart Humphries said: “We’re really delighted by the award and the opportunity to conduct some truly multidisciplinary work on the links between form and function.”

“Working across disciplines we hope to really advance our understanding of why sperm have such different shapes when their job, in any animal, is essentially the same.”